A Little More Than Chin Deep
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Tumblr prompt: Regina is drowning and someone saves her.


The water lapped at the sand washing away footprints left behind by many beach goers. Regina looked out into the sparkling waves. Of course she had no intention of actually entering the water herself; aside from being dirty and snake infested, the former queen wasn't the strongest swimmer. In fact she wasn't a swimmer at all. Of course, in her own defense, her mother never bothered to teach her of have her taught. Apparently being the 'perfect young woman' didn't involve knowing how to keep one's head above the water.

"Seriously, just get in!" Emma called from deep in the lake. "Henry's out here waiting." She waved her hand, hoping to catch Regina's attention, just in case the queen couldn't find her on her own.

"It's alright you two have fun. I'm not a fan of murky water." Regina replied. "Or fish for that matter." She added for good measure. The last thing she needed was for people to know that the powerful mayor was afraid of water.

"Please mom." Henry requested, "we haven't gone swimming since…ever!"

Regina pressed her lips together. She truly didn't want to let Henry down. Perhaps if she only went in a few feet everything would be fine. "Alright Henry, but I'm not going in very far." She put one foot in the water, cringing at the slimy squishy feeling the sand graced it with.

"You look like you're suffering." Emma laughed.

"Trust me I am." Regina grumbled.

The blonde shot her a devious smile before splashing dirty water at her. "Emma that's disgusting, this is disgusting. I need a shower, a really long one." Regina muttered.

"Oh you're no fun." Emma took her hand.

"Emma where are we going?"

"By Henry." Emma jabbed her finger towards the deeper parts of the lake where Regina could make out Henry's head bobbing in the waves. He smiled brightly before dipping his head under the water. Regina tensed up, fearful for a moment that he would not resurface. But seconds later he was waving at her and urging her to come closer. So she let Emma lead her in that direction, her queasiness deepening with the level of the water.

She stopped a few feet from Henry, when the water was at chin level.

"Come out a little deeper." Emma encouraged.

"But I won't be able to touch the bottom." Regina pointed out.

"If I can touch, you can."

Biting slightly at her lower lip, Regina took a step forward. Very typical of her luck, she had found what was probably the one spot where the sand came to a sudden drop off. That was how she found herself falling beneath the surface. In retrospect she should have just taken a step back. But in that heart lurching moment of panic she had, instead, pushed herself out deeper.

She briefly heard her name being called and words like 'are', 'okay', 'think', and 'drowning'. Even those four words were muffled by the water filling her ears and every other crevice. She shut her eyes, surprised that she wasn't actually flailing or screaming for help. Perhaps she should be, but she was afraid that opening her mouth would only let in more water.

She hadn't been under for more than a few agonizingly dragging seconds when she felt a pair of arms lock around hers from behind. Just as painfully slow she found herself being taken to the shoreline. It was Henry she realized, those arms weren't quite muscular enough to be Emma's. He set her down, resting her head on one of the beach towels.

Dizzy with the visages of panic Regina could still only hear in snippets; from Emma she picked up on 'call someone' and from Henry 'could just', 'magic'. She heard her name again and muttered something she hoped came out as, "Emma you idiot." Apparently it had for the blonde protested the statement. And followed it up with, "Jesus Christ, Regina! You could have told me you didn't know how to swim!" She felt wet hands over her chest and a pleasant flow of magic as Emma sought to repair any potential harm that the invasive lake had caused.

"I didn't want you to judge me." Regina murmured to the woman, realizing that the entire beach was probably doing just that. She sat up and surveyed the area.

"It's just us, mom." Henry assured her.

"I wouldn't have judged you!" Emma replied. "Next time you're afraid to do something just say it, okay."

Running a hand through her sopping hair, Regina nodded.

Emma tapped her toes on the sand. "No wonder Storybrooke doesn't have a public pool." She laughed. "How about this; tomorrow we can go to the town over—where no one knows you—and we can have a little swimming lesson?"

Regina glanced over at Henry. It'd be nice to be able to swim with him. "I suppose I'd like that, Emma. Just…let's stay in the shallow end."

Emma smiled, "of course, your majesty."


End file.
